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I like Dropbox for certain things, but for files where there are multiple people working on them, I find Google Docs to be much easier. With Dropbox, you have to download the file, work on it, then upload it. If someone else was working on that file at the same time, you have no idea and are potentially screwed. That has rarely happened, but honestly, I just like the speed of opening a spreadsheet in my browser, making a few changes, and closing the tab. Done.

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Thank you Mike. This has been an interesting adventure. I'm not a kid anymore and my technical skills are crap at best. I have been lurking around certain forums trying to find the information I need, or a place I felt comfortable asking. A friend of mine told me about this place. I really appreciate the atmosphere here.

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Thank you Mike. This has been an interesting adventure. I'm not a kid anymore and my technical skills are crap at best. I have been lurking around certain forums trying to find the information I need, or a place I felt comfortable asking. A friend of mine told me about this place. I really appreciate the atmosphere here.

Lou

Well, we are happy to have you. Feel free to ask for any help you need.

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I have a day job that I dearly love, and I don't see myself leaving it anytime soon; however, I love being my own boss, so I know that I am eventually going to be working for myself again. I still have my biz on the side, but I am going to devote more time to it. I want to build that biz to the point where this time next year I will have the option to work for myself or keep my biz as a side job. Update: still love the job, and working on being at a level in December where I can keep it or just work for myself. Learning how to juggle work, family, finishing college (at 50, no less), side biz, and other craziness has been proving to be a challenge. Progress is a lot slower than I'd like, but I don't want to burn out or let any of the aforementioned things suffer.

In order to make this work, I know I am going to have to hire someone to help me. I need someone who can field calls and emails while I'm at my day job. It'll be part time, but it would be a huge help to me and let me have the best of both worlds. Ideally, I'd like to hire someone local who can become full time down the road. Update: not ready to hire anyone yet.

Fine tune my sales process. Update: in progress

I want to network again. I haven't done much of it this year, and I truly miss it. I want to find a networking group where I can start building relationships. Update: As soon as the weather is better (probably April or May), I plan on doing more networking. Sloshing through snow to network isn't my thing.

On a personal note, I want to live better, eat better, & exercise more. I haven't been doing well with that, and my energy level is suffering. Update: I've lost 11 pounds so far and I've already noticed a huge difference.

I will write for at least 20 minutes, 5 days a week. (Right now I write for hours at a stretch at haphazard intervals.) Update: I've been doing okay with this one.

Write/Call my mom and dad once a week. Update: Mom and Dad say hi.

2) What will you stop doing in 2018 that you are currently doing in 2017?

Stop eating out so much. It's expensive and unhealthy. Update: I've cut way back. Going out twice a week, usually.

I have a day job that I dearly love, and I don't see myself leaving it anytime soon; however, I love being my own boss, so I know that I am eventually going to be working for myself again. I still have my biz on the side, but I am going to devote more time to it. I want to build that biz to the point where this time next year I will have the option to work for myself or keep my biz as a side job.Update: still love the job, and still working on being at a level in December where I can keep it or just work for myself. Right now it looks like I may keep my day job for a longer time than I thought and have my oldest son help me run the biz until it gets bigger.

In order to make this work, I know I am going to have to hire someone to help me. I need someone who can field calls and emails while I'm at my day job. It'll be part time, but it would be a huge help to me and let me have the best of both worlds. Ideally, I'd like to hire someone local who can become full time down the road.Update: already having my oldest son help out, and will be officially hiring him fairly soon.

Fine tune my sales process.Update: long story short, I have a good process going. Still working some kinks out. Still trying new things for the initial outreach/lead gen part.

I want to network again. I haven't done much of it this year, and I truly miss it. I want to find a networking group where I can start building relationships.Update: I started a business group! First meeting is next week.

On a personal note, I want to live better, eat better, & exercise more. I haven't been doing well with that, and my energy level is suffering.Update: I've lost 12 pounds so far. Progress is slow.

I will write for at least 20 minutes, 5 days a week. (Right now I write for hours at a stretch at haphazard intervals.)Update: I've been doing sort of okay with this one.

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One thing that I most certainly will stop doing in 2018 that I've done in 2017 is being impatient. I can honestly say that I did learn patience in 2017 as I found being impatient does not accomplish a thing. It doesn't speed things along or change anything at all. 2017 was a rather strange year for me in having the unexpected surgery and all of the restrictions afterward lasting so long. Therefore I didn't get to do everything I wished to do and I'm hoping when I go for my 6 month follow up in February that I will be able to have some of them lifted. If they're not, I'll just have to go with the flow. 2017 was also a year of learning, having faith in myself and my abilities and discovering that I am stronger than I thought. ~ Hooray! I consider this completely accomplished! My second book is underway in being published and I'm not checking constantly to find out if it's time for the next phase or something to approve.

What I do plan on doing in 2018 is contingent upon my restrictions being lifted, however, I am determined either way to have my second and third manuscript turned into my acquisition agent in 2018. Having my 2 hours of sitting at a time lifted will be helpful, but if it isn't, I still plan on my above stated goal. Terra busts out singing, And she had high hopes, she had high hopes, LOL! I did write enough to get the third manuscript done however, it doesn't fit the age timeline, so I have some of the fourth book written, though.

I also plan on stretching myself further in the upcoming year in reaching out, hitting the pavement so to speak, in contacting libraries, bookstores, schools, etc. for book readings and/or signings other than the one book club and 2 elementary schools I already have engagements with. Again, it depends on my restrictions, but worst case scenario, one year from my surgery date which was August 21st. I am doing great in this department! My book is now found in three local libraries and I have my first book signing and meet the author scheduled at a local bookstore for June 23rd, and another one in the process of being set at a large retailer. I am also invited to an author signing at one of the libraries for next year. A whole bunch of authors will be there and I'm really excited about that. I discovered that marketing my book is entailing more than I had even thought so I have a lot of learning to do on that aspect. I have been doing some research on that and need to because I have discovered that I suck at book marketing, LOL! What I mean is I think I need to be a little bit more bold and not so intimidated with the larger media outlets and bookstores.

On a personal level, I practically missed all of summer in 2017 not only because of my bad back but because of the one medication I was given that Hubby labeled as my "stupid pill". Hahaha! Seriously, I don't remember a whole lot of the first 2 months after surgery LOL! I do plan on taking a road trip with one of my childhood friends that I hooked back up with and we are planning on going rockhounding. It should be a blast!! I intend on experiencing the summer of 2018 to the fullest. I'm talking about walks in the gentle summer rain, splashing in mud puddles, smelling all of the flowers, barbeques with family and friends and well, you get the picture. I am well on my way! I have so far splashed in mud puffles after a rain, smell my flowers in my flower beds and gardens every day have had 2 cookouts. Still waiting on making plans for my roadtrip with my girlfriend. She had some unexpected setbacks that is throwing a monkey wrench in our plans.

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I have a day job that I dearly love, and I don't see myself leaving it anytime soon; however, I love being my own boss, so I know that I am eventually going to be working for myself again. I still have my biz on the side, but I am going to devote more time to it. I want to build that biz to the point where this time next year I will have the option to work for myself or keep my biz as a side job. Update: Not as enamored with the job. LOL I still would like to have the option to stay or work from myself by December. It's looking good.

In order to make this work, I know I am going to have to hire someone to help me. I need someone who can field calls and emails while I'm at my day job. It'll be part time, but it would be a huge help to me and let me have the best of both worlds. Ideally, I'd like to hire someone local who can become full time down the road. Update: still not ready to hire anyone yet.

Fine tune my sales process. Update: still in progress, but I have enough data points to really fine tune it well. I've inadvertently found a niche market because that type of client keeps coming on board. Makes it easier to develop a sales process when you can be very specific in your outreach.

I want to network again. I haven't done much of it this year, and I truly miss it. I want to find a networking group where I can start building relationships. Update: I am getting back into the networking groove. It's fun!

On a personal note, I want to live better, eat better, & exercise more. I haven't been doing well with that, and my energy level is suffering. Update: I've lost 12 pounds so far and I've kind of plateaued.

I will write for at least 20 minutes, 5 days a week. (Right now I write for hours at a stretch at haphazard intervals.) Update: I've been doing okay with this one. Finished two books last month that I've been working on for about a year.

Write/Call my mom and dad once a week. Update: Mom says hi.

2) What will you stop doing in 2018 that you are currently doing in 2017?

Stop eating out so much. It's expensive and unhealthy. Update: I've cut way back. Going out twice a week, usually.

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This was a great thread last year. I definitely want to participate this year.

1) What will you start doing in 2018 that you are not doing in 2017?

I know I'm echoing a few people from last year with this one, but I need to get on top of my business finances more. I don't think I'm terrible with money. I balance the checking accounts at the end of the month and pay all my bills. I'm good there, but I only have a vague estimate of what I have spent on different business items until the end of the year when it is time to take care of taxes. I've already been looking into options like Quicken and Quickbooks. I might just go with the basic option of using some sort of PnL spreadsheet. I need to do something though.

I'm also looking at doing more outsourcing for tasks that take up a lot of my time, so that I can focus on my strengths relating to my business. I want to be more involved on the creative side of things and less on the technical side. I have already started interviewing a few potential workers on UpWork to have them ready to start in January.

I want to start looking at doing more on YouTube to drive traffic to a few of my affiliate niches. It's such a vast platform, and I have not messed with creating a channel or videos much at all. It's time I start.

Lastly, I'm planning on reading one book that relates to business each quarter. I'd like to say one a month, but that might be too ambitious. I'm starting with How to Win Friends and Influence People. I've heard numerous great things about it and have meant to read it for years. Just never got around to it. It's already on its way from Amazon.

2) What will you stop doing in 2018 that you are currently doing in 2017?

I'm cutting out some distractions from my work time. I'm blocking Facebook and Twitter on my work computer. I have uninstalled Skype. I am also going to block a few forums that I used to visit a lot, including BHW and WaFo. You always had to kind of weed through some junk on those forums to find the good stuff, but it's getting to a point where the junk is just overwhelming. The new admin team at WaFo just really has no idea what they are doing. BHW, and a few other forums, have just lost too many of their good posters that participated regularly at one time. I don't know where they went, but the value is just not there for the time involved anymore.

I'm thinking about blocking most news sites too. The political climate has made me visit them too often during the workday this past year.

On the personal side, I'm going to stop working on weekends almost entirely. I feel like I work 6 or 7 days a week right now. That has to stop or I foresee myself ending up burnt out in the next few years.

Update time:

1) I have definitely been more on top of my finances. Instead of spending money on some software, I'm just using a PnL spreadsheet I built. Started really basic and I just edited it and let it grow as I needed. It's been eye opening.

On the outsourcing front, I have had 2 writers working consistently for me. The one recently has become a bit of a headache. Not sure what happened to her. She was great. Now she routinely misses deadlines. Excuse after excuse. I think I'm going to dump her soon. I've also been filling in gaps when needed with Textbroker. I only use the upper two quality levels on there and have been pleased with the results.

I also found a pretty decent and inexpensive graphics person that takes care of simple things I need like graphics for blog posts, new pages, headers, etc. He basically takes stock photos and edits them. It's nothing mind-blowing, but its all I need.

I ended up abandoning the YouTube idea. I have just been too busy and have not looked at it. I would still like to. I also need to get some better cam and sound recording equipment if I am going to go that route.

Books I have done okay with. I have How to Win Friends and Influence People, Blink, and I tossed in The One Minute Manager since it is so short. Highly recommend all three if you have not read them.

2) I have largely stayed off Twitter and Facebook. I did start getting on Facebook a little more, but mostly because I joined a few IM and SEO groups that have been worthwhile. I stayed almost completely off most other forums until the past few weeks. I see that I did not miss much of anything there, and my assessment of WaFo was even more on than I realized.

I have avoided news sites completely during the working day which has saved me a lot of wasted time getting emotionally entangled in dumb shit. I'm still staying informed, but nothing during the workday.

And I am happy to say that I have kept my weekends mostly free of work.

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Well, July is almost over, so I thought I'd pop in and give an update. I have just turned in my cover design for my second book and once I approve that, then I'll get a box of my books for final hands on approval. Then the book release follows, hooray!!

I have two more events scheduled. One is being a vendor at The Hippie Fest and the cool thing about that is they contacted me. They were looking for more items for sale for kids and since Little Jenna grew up in the 60s, era of the hippies, she's in. We have to dress the theme so I have my white bell bottoms, tie-dye gauze top, round pink sunglasses and flowered headband all ready. My theme at my table is flower power and I also have a flowered table cloth to fit my theme. I'm really excited about that! Hippies at the Village It's July 28th.

The other event is in a local authors tent at Good Times in Goodrich August, fourth. Other authors will be there with their books too. It should be a blast! To stick out of the crowd, I've written a little piece to hand out to passers by written in Jenna's voice giving some book teasers. Local Authors Tent

Other than that, I've been working on my website for my books and that is slow going because I am a verified techtard, haha! Little Jenna Jafferty

After the author's tent, I will be leaving with hubby for our 35th anniversary trip to enjoy some downtime, hubby time, and Michigan treasures. If I have any books left after the 2 events, I'll bring them along, because, you never know. 😁

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First, I want to thank Mike for starting this thread. It has been a great help in keeping myself in check, lol!

So, for the month of August, I have been extremely busy! Not only did half of my family decide to be born or get married in August, but I have been working on my website as well as doing research on marketing a book.

I finally got my connect with Terra part done with the contact form, but also my newsletter subscription all set up. I'm excited about that as I will begin to release the blurb from the back of the second book and also do a cover reveal once I approve it with my publishing assistant. And some other fun stuff. I like fun, so I'm going to enjoy it, LOL!

I have been contacted by a couple of "moms" groups and therefore have 2 author reads set up for October.. One is from my town and the other is a large regional group. I can't wait. The month of September I will be contacting local schools, contacting the media specialist and setting up author reads there as well.

I have been given a lead from another author for when the second book is released later this year. It's a direct connection to journalists who are looking for new leads for stories. That is going to be great too!

On a personal note, I have been enjoying my new grandson as much as I can. He is the apple of my eye and beat of my heart. He's growing so fast!!

And I had a blast on our anniversary trip. I played like a little kid, LOL

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It's well into September. I thought I had updated, but I haven't yet. Whoops.

This update will be a bit different. Things have taken a bit of a turn.

I published 2 books this year. (One about activism and one about empowering women.) Neither will ever be a best-seller, but that wasn't really the point of them.

Little by little I'm getting my name out there. This week I've been asked to do 2 speaking gigs. When I was working at a street fair (I was manning a booth for an organization I belong to), when I introduced myself to someone she said, "Oh yes. I know you. I see your name on a lot of things happening around here." It was a weird (in a good way) feeling.

I am making a shift in my biz because it's what I want to do. It's working, and it is the way I'm refining my business model.

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Each month of 2018 I am going to choose a form of human suffering in the world and take serious action to reduce it as much as possible... 100% results focused!

Stop:

Holding back my emotional expressions because of how other people might react.

LOVE!! seeing everyone's updates! You all are doing awesome!!!

Start Goal: Absurdly great year so far... This string of projects has easily been the most rewarding thing I've ever done. I spent so much of my youth angry at things that, looking back on them now, just really didn't matter. I've been humbled and-- if I can borrow the word without it's religious connotations-- blessed to experience life with some of the most outrageously wonderful people on this planet, and in some small but important ways I have been able to help them set-up multiple small, robust, grass-roots type organizations that will endure long after we are all gone.

Stop Goal: When I made this Stop Goal, I think it was meant as something much more tame, like not sugar-coating things for people in a way that left my opinions ambiguous to those unfamiliar with my particular sense of humor... but as this year has turned out, it was never realistic or appropriate. So many times this year my heart has been completely destroyed, utterly broken, my soul torn into an empty nothing, by witnessing the results of horrible experiences, and almost every single time it was my job to be strong because other people were suffering directly, and so much more... Other times my anger has been a ranging inferno begging to completely annihilate the despicable, disgusting human trash within striking distance of me that were, in fact, needed to accomplish things far more important than satisfying my emotional obsessions for revenge...

I can unequivocally say that every single day this year I have lived a life worth more than all the previous years of my life combined. I cannot imagine that I will do anything else for the rest of my life, can't think of anything else worth what time I have left.

I'm super-grateful once again to those of you who helped me through that dark time in my life a few years ago. Make sure the people you love, really, really know it.

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Hello! I don't pop in here as often as I should, but I had some time today, so...hi!

Still working on a number of things, but the biggest change has been outsourcing. I finally admitted to myself that I'd never build my business to the level I want it to be if I don't start hiring people.

I have found delightful, hard-working people through Upwork, and it's been amazing.

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The end of the year is almost here, and as I have been crazy busy up til now and know I will be until the end, I just want to say I've had a year full of ups and downs due to health issues, but am tickled pink (see what I did there?) to have landed on an up. 😃

I'm so thankful for this thread as it has kept me on track as well as being able to see my progress as the year trudged on.

Thanks Mike and I hope you do another for next year!

If I'm not back before these, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and Fabulous New Year!

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I signed up a while back. I've been reading posts, learning and taking steps to get my online business going.

1) What will you start doing in 2018 that you are not doing in 2017?

2017 brought on some difficult changes for me. Because of them, I started my online journey. So, to answer the question, I'll be doing my best to implement what I've learned instead of learning.

2) What will you stop doing in 2018 that you are currently doing in 2017?

This one is easy. I'm going to stop thinking I need to know everything before I actually start. I have started and tackled most of the learning curve. Most of them.

I'm looking forward to learning, here, and hoping that my new kid shine will wear off eventually.

Lou

Wow, where did this year go? I know everyone always says that, but this past year really flew for me.

1) What will you start doing in 2018 that you are not doing in 2017?

My online journey has been exciting and soul crushing all at the same time. When I look back, the soul crushing moments were probably the one's that were little issues where the obvious was out to mess with my head. Those moments did teach me to quit making things harder than they should be, most of the time.

I have met some really neat people, online and offline, and through them have slowly been building a nice little income. The best part, I no longer annoy the hell out of my wife with my hunt and peck typing skills (I moved my work space to another room)!

2) What will you stop doing in 2018 that you are currently doing in 2017?

The mistakes I have made, made my "I'm going to stop thinking I need to know everything before I actually start." harder to learn, practice than I thought. "Oh, this doesn't look hard at all", really schooled me. Looking back, I laugh a lot at the hours spent figuring out a 10 minute fix.

I've lightly attempted social media. I had no idea that people would actually want to hear what I have to say. Strange and fun at the same time.

For the end of the year, I am writing down my plans as they come to me. They're kind of lofty, but it feels good to set my bar high!